Mikhail Katukov

Mikhail Efimovich Katukov (17 September 1900-8 June 1976) was a Marshal of the Armored Troops of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Biography
Mikhail Efimovich Katukov was born on 17 September 1900 in Bolshoe Uvarovo, Moscow Oblast, Russian Empire, and he entered the Red Army as a private in 1919. Katukov served as a tank formation commander after fighting in the Russian Civil War and graduating from the Stalin Military Academy, and he survived the Great Purge. During World War II, he led the 1st Guards Tank Army from the Battle of Kursk to the Battle of Berlin, leading the tank army through Belarus and into Poland and Germany. After the war, Katukov commanded the Soviet mechanized forces in East Germany and served as Inspector-General of the Army before dying in 1976.